Tenders Are Invited For In Situ Propellant Liquefaction Transfer And Storage For Moon And Mars

Tenders are invited for In Situ Propellant Liquefaction Transfer and Storage for Moon and Mars Expro+ IN SITU PROPELLANT LIQUEFACTION TRANSFER AND STORAGE FOR MOON AND MARS EXPRO+ Tender Action Number: 1-13261 Activity Number: 1000045544 Clarification Request Deadline 22/05/2026 13:00 CET Closing Date Extension Request Deadline 15/05/2026 13:00 CET Announcement Date 05/02/2026 Last Update On 17/04/2026 09:08 CET Update Reason Tender Action Issued To define and demonstrate a scalable, modular, transportable liquefaction system to support propellant production for sustainable surface access at Moon and Mars.DescriptionSustainable exploration of the future will rely on ISRU produced propellants with the common oxidizer being Liquid Oxygen (LOX).Building on ongoing in situ resource utilization (ISRU) studies this activity focuses on the aspects necessary for the conversion of ISRU products into useful propellant.This activity encompasses the following tasks:- Survey of the industrial plant and processes currently used for liquefaction, transfer and storage of candidate propellants which are obtainable in gaseous form at the Moon or Mars (oxidiser LOX and fuels LH2, LCH4, LCO) and achievable specific production rates w.r.t mass and power required- Assessment of required production rate requirements for generic tank volumes and mission cadences- Examine the alternative processes available and demonstrate a suitable scaling of the processes and hardware to meet the requirements- Define the concepts for potential flight hardware. Local environmental conditions and any unique opportunities for heat rejection tothe environment shall be considered- Trade off of the developed process based on opportunities for cost, power and mass optimisation and the relative complexity of technology development. Typically such applications require process heat rejection management for the propellant chill down. The miniaturization of this through highly compact heat exchangers in flight weight, propellant compatiblematerials shall be investigated- Down select the processes and elaborate and optimise a preliminary design, per propellant, whichshall be developed providing detailed layout/configuration and mass estimates. The baseline system shall be defined as modular and scalable supported by digital mock up and detailed process analysis/simulation- The activity shall be ultimately supported by the definition, manufacture and test of early, ground based, module level, breadboards for key technologies/processes. Read less Directorate Directorate of Tech, Eng. Quality Estabilishment ESTEC Open Date 17/04/2026 09:08 CET Closing Date 29/05/2026 13:00 CET ECOS Required No Classified No Price Range 200-500 KEURO Authorised Contact Person Cinzia Braia Initiating Service TEC-MPC IP Measure N/A Prog. Reference E/0901-01 - Technology Developme Tender Type Open Competition Open To Tenderers From AT+BE+CH+CZ+DE+DK+EE+GR+ES+FI+FR+GB+HU+IE+IT+LU+NL+NO+PL+PT+RO+SE Technology Keywords 19-A-I-Liquid Propulsion Subsystems Products Keywords 2-K-1-a-Propellants Tender Link : https://esastar-publication-ext.sso.esa.int/ESATenderActions/filter/open

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